Such a method and a device for carrying out the method are known, for example, from DE 40 19 411 A1. To carry out the known method, the cooking appliance includes a cooking chamber, which is bounded by a housing and a door in its closed position, and further includes a cooking appliance control system, the door being automatically openable by the cooking appliance control system by means of a door opening device. The known door opening device is composed of an electromagnetic lock which is mounted on the housing and includes a piston return spring, a positioning piston mounted on the door, and a door seal. When the door is closed, i.e., when the door is in its closed position, the door seal is biased and the positioning piston is locked in place by the electromagnetic lock. According to the known method, the door is automatically opened by the known door opening device when a presettable timer disposed in the appliance control system has expired. To this end, electromagnetic lock is actuated in such a way that the positioning piston is released. The door opens automatically because of the bias of the door seal and because of the piston return spring.
A similar cooking appliance is known from DE 100 27 774 C2. In that cooking appliance, the rod can be automatically reciprocated by the appliance control system by means of the positioning motor such a manner that the door can be automatically moved from its closed position to a predetermined open position and vice versa. This is done using a sensor in the form of a temperature sensor. In the known cooking appliance, the door is automatically moved from the closed position to the open position after a cooking process in the form of a baking process is complete. The heat and vapor can gradually escape from the cooking chamber through the gap between the door and the housing.
Furthermore, DE 295 14 690 U1 discloses the use of a shape-memory element in an automatic venting device to automatically open a window.
Furthermore, it is known from DE 43 38 584 A1 to use a return element in the form of a spring in a device for thermally treating materials in order to sealingly close a heating chamber that can be closed by a door. There, the spring is mounted on a hinge rod of a hinge-type mounting arrangement of the door.